Mobile Content Strategy: 7 Mistakes You Are Making Right Now

Mobile strategy is becoming increasingly complicated. As the choices of devices expand, users increasingly continue to access content from their mobile devices. What does this mean for you and your organization’s overall content strategy?

If you are thinking about your mobile content strategy at all, here are some things you need to consider right now:

1. Business Objectives for Mobile

Are you an e-commerce retailer or a provider of movie time information? A travel app or a curator of tourist information for your city? Does you content matter to users right now or are they on your site because your information might matter to them later?

In either case, think about their needs carefully so you can design and create your content appropriately.

For an excellent example of this type of thinking, see the Kayak traditional site and the Kayak app. Users need different functionality from the app than they do from the website. Kayak’s designers spent time thinking about those needs meticulously, resulting in one of the most popular travel apps.

Kayak's Website

Kayak's App

2. Choice

Do you give them a choice of viewing the mobile version of your site, or the whole site? No matter how carefully you’ve thought through how they’re using your site in a mobile situation, they may want to access the full site. Give them that option.

3. Page Size

If it’s too big, it won’t load, there will be data overcharges and they’ll abandon you faster than iPhone users have abandoned Blackberries. Make sure you’re working directly with your programmers to solve how big your pages are and how much content they store (this includes pictures, vidoes, etc.).

4. Eliminate Extraneous Information from Menu Choices

Jacob Nielsen did a study where they found that the best display of headlines on a news mobile site were those that did not show the author’s name. Of course not. Who selects which articles to read because of the author? Very rarely in a news format -- who the author is typically matters in the editorial section. Make sure you keep menu and heading content tight and relevant.

5. Using the Wrong Linguistic Cues

Links are vital on the Web, but on mobile devices they can actually make things happen. Smartphones have map apps that intuitively enter the address in order to create a list of directions. However, if your link says, “Get maps and directions” users may misinterpret what will happen after the jump. Instead, label the link, “Plug our address into your phone’s map app.”

The lesson: Don’t always use language that has become standard on a desktop. Smartphones have multiple capabilities. Make sure you cue your user appropriately.

6. Changing Your Style, Tone and Voice

Content governance exists to provide a comprehensive user experience across channels and platforms. Do not rebrand yourselves on mobile -- it makes no sense. While the mobile website or app may look different from a traditional desktop website, your logo, content voice and style should stay the same. Do you want to walk into Starbucks and be asked how you’d like your burger?

7. Stop Pretending It’s Not Happening

When you have grandchildren, or great-grandchildren, they will have mobile devices implanted in them when they’re born. Until then, we need to be creative about mobile solutions.

I hate to sound ominous, but mobile is a wave that’s steadily advancing. I actually think it’s the most exciting thing we’ve experienced in information dissemination since the printing press. Get a plan together now for how you’re going to manage this tremendous opportunity.

So, are you making any mistakes with your mobile or mobile content strategy? Share lessons learned with us.

About the Author

Based in the Washington, D.C. metro area, Ahava Leibtag is a Web content strategist and writer. She leads AHA Media Group, a Web and content consulting firm operating since 2005. She authors the blog Online it ALL Matters.

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